To The New Mother
by Last Haven
Summary: Cyborg leads the toast. “To the new mother and father!” Beast Boy puffs up in pride, but Raven keeps her eyes on her daughter. For the moment, Beast Boy has forgotten, but Raven hasn’t. Raven is not a new mother and this is not her first child.


When her baby is born, Raven allows her friends to hover and coo at the little girl instead of snapping for some breathing space. Her daughter, Lenore as Beast Boy insists, saps up the attention like a flower soaking in the sun.

"Your daughter is truly adorable, Raven," Starfire laughs while bouncing her own daughter on her hip. "Perhaps when she is older, Lenore will join our Mar'I in having fun?"

Mar'I, already more than a year older than Lenore, thinks the babe is a life-size doll. "Auntie Raven, when you done with the dolly, I play too?" Raven smiles at the girl.

"You're a little small to be playing with that dolly, sweet heart," Nightwing, still in costume from the patrol he did right before the party, laughs to his daughter, taking her from his wife and jogging her in his arms. Content to be carried by her father, Mar'I rests her head on his shoulder and observes the baby solemnly.

Cyborg has one arm tossed around Beast Boy's shoulder and the other against the back of the couch as he leans over to see the baby. "She's got her daddy's hair, I see," he snickered. Lenore indeed has a full mane of teal hair and three sharp little teeth as well.

"She's got her mommy's eyes though," Beast Boy points out, still breathless at the realization that he's a father now.

There are others there as well: Bumble Bee and her husband, Aqualad with his small son, even Melvin put in an appearance, although her brothers aren't there. Others are there, all to coo at the baby and congratulate the new parents.

There's a toast some time during the party. With glasses held high, Cyborg leads the toast. "To the new mother and father!"

Beast Boy puffs up in pride, but Raven keeps her eyes on her daughter. For the moment, Beast Boy has forgotten, but Raven hasn't.

Raven is not a new mother, and this is not her first child.

* * *

_Twins. She has twins. The daughter, so much smaller than Raven could ever believe, has her eyes. She has no hair, like her twin, so Raven doesn't know if she inherited her hair or the father's. The girl sleeps with a scowl fixed on her face._

_Her son however…his eyes, he's inherited his father's eyes, are wide open and he __**stares**__ at her, like he knows this will be the last time he sees her. He lifts one hand, so so small, and she lets him catch hold of her finger. For a moment, they stare at one another, and Raven feels a bond with this boy that she has never felt with anyone else, not her mother, father, or any lover._

_It frightens her, this bond. She pulls her finger away, and for a moment her son makes a grab at it as if to recapture the moment. But his own arm is too heavy for the new born so he curls it back to his chest. He returns to staring and Raven steps away. Another step, and she turns, fleeing the room and those icy cat-slit eyes._

_She rests against the door, panting hard. Three days since the birth, and still she feels weak. Or maybe it was her own son's stare, stripping her of her lies and barriers._

"…_Rhiannon."_

_Raven jumps. She looks and sees the father of her children standing down the hall not quite a stone throw's away._

"_What?" she gasps as she catches her breath._

"_The girl. I'm thinking of naming her Rhiannon," he clarifies, voice soft and flat._

"_Oh, it's…" What was the right response to this? "Lovely"? "Perfect"? "It wounds me"? She decides on a softer truth. "…awfully long for such a small thing."_

_He laughs. He's closer at returning to normal than she herself. "She'll grow into it."_

Damn him, _she thinks without spite. Of course, he would recover faster than she would. Before the birth, things returned to almost normal, but after, it was like being destroyed anew. Raven has destroyed herself four times now: once as she became the portal, once the morning after she realized what she had done, once after she discovered she was pregnant. She's destroyed again as she brought her screaming daughter and son into the world._

_Like a phoenix from the ashes, she will rise again. But for now she is still entrenched in ruins._

"…_and the boy?" she asks after a moment._

"…_I haven't decided yet," he admits truthfully. He looks at her, and she realizes he wants her to name him. She never once thought about her son's name or her daughter's._

"…_you'll think of something," she says quietly, moving from the door to face him better. They stand there, stalemated, before he mirthlessly chuckles and nods to her._

"_I take it you'll be leaving soon."_

_It's not a question. "Yes."_

"_I see," he murmurs. Stalemate again. He breaks it again but not in the way she thought. "Good luck then…dear Raven."_

_Raven has nothing to say, she's defeated him and yet he won. She tries to think of something to say, something worthy of forgiveness. "I'm sorry," she finally says._

"_Oh, I didn't think you would stay much longer than-"_

"_No." Check. "I'm sorry to…abandon you and them."_

_He stares._

_Check mate._

_He stares and stares and stares before finally chuckling again. He lifts out his hand to her, and she realizes he wants her to shake it. This she can permit and she grabs hold. He smiles at her, but she can't muster the strength to return it._

_She lets go and bites her lip. He looks at her sympathetically, and she knows she must leave now or she'll never be able to leave._

_"Malchior…take care of them," she says as she rushes past him. When she finally makes it to her room, pressing her back against the door, she hears his reply he sent on a brush of wind._

_"I will."_

* * *

"Congratulations, new mommy," Starfire whispers, lights dancing in her eyes.

Raven smiles. She isn't a new mother.


End file.
